The Zurich Way
As a large organisation with operations across the world, we apply a common way of dealing with core business processes. A common approach to business – firmly embedded in our operations group-wide – is fundamental to our success and moves us closer to our goal of being one Zurich. The Zurich Way is about one common language and methodology, supported by shared mindsets and behaviours, for how we think about and tackle business challenges. Through The Zurich Way we deliver standardised processes to improve performance throughout the organisation.
The Zurich Way encourages people to share their knowledge and best practices and continually build their skills. By involving experienced operators and practitioners, The Zurich Way creates a distinct set of tools with which to analyse our core business processes, measure their efficiency and effectiveness and consistently improve them. It also includes common metrics to ensure that improvements and resulting benefits are fully achieved. The Zurich Way transforms how we do business every day and helps us provide better services to customers in a consistent and recognisably Zurich Way. It is a passion for excellence that affects everything we do and a lasting commitment to ensure that improvements are sustainable and will continue to generate benefits in the years to come.
How The Zurich Way fits with our Strategic Direction
Zurich focuses on sustaining profitability driven by The Zurich Way of doing business. Together, The Zurich Way, Zurich Brand and Zurich Basics are the fundamental drivers that deliver profit, growth and value for all our stakeholders. Zurich Basics are the core values that shape everything we do. Group strategy guides where we are going; our aspiration to be the leading global insurer. The Zurich Way is how we deliver – our methods, tools and metrics for improving how we operate. The outcome is how customers and investors perceive us; the Zurich Brand.
Why we are doing business The Zurich Way
To help us provide better customer service in a consistent and recognisably Zurich Way and so deliver sustainable profitable growth for Zurich and achieve our ambition to be the leading global insurer. Eventually The Zurich Way will help each of us to raise our ability to deliver everything we do to best practice standards.
What The Zurich Way aspirations mean
To transform how we do business and shift our culture so we act more as one team and are perceived as one Zurich in the marketplace in line with our global brand-building effort. We intend to move away from a variety of core business processes measured differently to common process methods, tools and metrics. We are also moving away from the use of different terms for the same thing to common terms for shared understanding and shared mindsets and behaviours – adapting to best practices even if ‘invented’ in other parts of our Group. The Zurich Way has proved that despite differing cultures, legal structures and regulations there are more similarities
than differences in how we operate.
Core elements of The Zurich Way
The heart of The Zurich Way is a shared understanding of core process steps, common language for process terms and shared mindsets and behaviours. Common tools are developed to identify the ‘size’ of an improvement opportunity as well as a common set of metrics to measure the impact of Zurich Way improvements.
Guiding Principles of The Zurich Way
The Zurich Way does not try to reinvent the wheel. It builds on many things that are or were already in place such as Zurich Basics, Creating Underwriting Excellence (CUE), the motor claims initiative and the Strategic Improvement Programme (SIP), to name but a few.
The Zurich Way is not intended to provide universal solutions to all our business challenges but to be a common basis for how we at Zurich think about and tackle problems. By involving our senior leaders and experts, we can base The Zurich Way on a broad range of practical experiences and business judgements. Common methodologies and consistent improvement approaches brought about through The Zurich Way are tested in practice at the frontlines – The Zurich Way is therefore never a theoretical exercise.
Sustainability is key to achieving the aspirational targets we have set ourselves. The Zurich Way helps us to continuously improve how we do things by establishing the mindset and behaviours we need for operational excellence. This ensures we will not run the risk of losing our current momentum. Each Zurich Way workstream is actively and continuously monitored to track implementation progress, review results and share key learnings.
How The Zurich Way adds value
Customers benefit by receiving quality service in a distinctively Zurich Way. This helps strengthen our platform for sustained, profitable growth, which is good news for our investors. It also enables employees involved in Zurich Way initiatives to increase their individual capabilities and skills.
How The Zurich Way is measured
What gets measured gets done! That’s why all Zurich Way initiatives are closely and rigorously monitored using project tracker methodology. To ensure sustainability, the global implementation status and benefits captured from the initiatives are assessed monthly – quarterly for some elements – via The Zurich Way War Room so we always have a full picture of how we are making The Zurich Way improvements happen, the benefits we are achieving as a result, the quality of Zurich Way execution against its aspirations and a fact-base for decision-making.
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